No Angels were formed in 2000 on the debut season of the RTL2 series Popstars, the German adaption of the international reality television franchise which set about producing a five-piece girl group.

[4] Following their formation, the band members moved into a house in Munich and began work on their debut album at the Park Studios, in Tutzing, Bavaria where most their songs would be recorded.

[5] Album opener "Daylight in Your Eyes", a cover version of singer Victoria Faiella's 2000 pop rendition of the rock-tinged original song by American rock band New Life Crisis,[6] was produced by Thorsten Brötzmann.

[4] Closing track "That's the Reason", another Brötzmann production, co-written by Alexander Geringas,[7] is a piano-led pop ballad with soft string arrangements and lyrics that talk about reminiscing past memories with a loved one.

[4] Former Dschinghis Khan member Leslie Mándoki contributed the Eastern-flavored R&B track "Be My Man (The Plan)" in which a woman asks her lover to let her know about his motives,[7][4] as well as the "moody" mid-tempo song "Faith Can Move a Mountain" that talks about finding comfort in others.

[7] Ries co-penned the mid-tempo ballad "When the Angels Sing" that features a cascading piano arrangement and dominant drum pattern.

[4] Uptempo song "Promises Can Wait" has a woman looking for fun instead of a love at first sight,[4] while on mid-tempo ballad "Couldn't Care Less", built upon a pulsating backbeat and a harp pattern, she assures that she has recovered from a painful heartbreak.

[4] Dance-pop track "Rivers of Joy", another anthemic song about self-empowerment, combines elements of gospel music and Eurodance with prominent usage of a piano sample.

[4] Ballad "Cry for You", co-written by Thomas Anders,[7] is a gentle, breezy pop song that is set against an acoustic guitar-driven instrumentation and a prominent saxophone riff.

[9] Cheyenne Records executives believed that the first single should be "Go Ahead and Take It", which had previously been promoted during the Popstars re-call sessions on Mallorca,[9] while the group was adamant that their debut song should be "Daylight in Your Eyes".

[15] "There Must Be an Angel", a cover version of the 1985 song by British musical duo Eurythmics, was released as the third single from Elle'ments which was reissued on 1 October 2001.

laut.de editor Eberhard Dobler felt that the producers on the album "built No Angels a easily digestible dance-love-star-nest [...] on an international pop level – the Eurodance track 'Rivers of Joy' proves it."

"[4] Linus Volkmann from Intro found that Elle'ments lacked "recognition value", but admitted that it "sounds pretty good – despite the tight studio time".

As with Dobler, the staff compared the material to Britney Spears, the Spice Girls and Toni Braxton and concluded: "If you don't mind No Angels' lack of independence, Elle'ments undoubtedly offers a nice best-of-pop album [...] But if you look for authenticity and uniqueness, you are knocking at the wrong door.

"[18] In March 2001, No Angels released Elle'ments in German-speaking Europe where it became an unprecedented success due to the sheer volume of interest in the group.